


broken crayons still color

by gemini_nan



Series: broken crayons still color [1]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Family, Foster home, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Fic, M/M, Mentions of Death, Mentions of child neglection, Tags to be added, They're only mentions this is actually very fluffy, cute kids being cute, mentions of child abuse, mentions of trauma, woochan have a family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-10-05 21:14:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 13,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17332481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gemini_nan/pseuds/gemini_nan
Summary: Chan and Woojin are foster parents, there are bumps and cracks along the way, but broken crayons still color all the same.





	1. a new start

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello! i've always been obsessed with family and kid fics so i've decided to combine the two into this. all the trauma and stuff like that are purely mentions. i hope you like it!

When Chan got the call from social services about a kid they needed a home for, he was about to refuse. He and Woojin had already agreed on only having three children at once, and Jeongin hadn’t even been with them for that long.

But then he heard “he’s Australian, seems like he hasn’t been here for long”, and every logic thought left him. It was 10 pm and he was getting another child.

The children were already asleep, Woojin was working in his office, probably grading projects, he went up to him.

“First of all” Chan started closing the door to the office, “I am so sorry”

Woojin turned around and raised an eyebrow. “Why are you?”

“I might or might not have gotten another kid”

“Chan…”

“I know, and it’ll be hard but I will work from home more often and we might have to use this office for his room, but…” Chan fidgeted with his sweater. “He was Australian and I thought maybe something familiar could help. I thought I could help.”

Woojin stood up and made his way up to him, he hugged him tight and sighed.

“Okay, at what time are they bringing him?”

Chan smiled against Woojin’s neck, grateful for his husband’s support.

“Probably in a few hours more, you should go to sleep though, you have a class early, and you can meet him tomorrow”

Woojin nodded and kissed Chan, after one last hug he picked up his things and went to their room.

Chan sighed and got to work. He first woke Jisung up.

“Sungie” he shook the little kid. “Sungie, please wake up”.

Jisung opened his eyes and stared at Chan in confusion. “Is it morning already?”

“No, it’s only 10, but I thought you’d like to have a little sleepover with Bin?” He didn’t need to know about the new kid just yet. Jisung’s eyes shined.

“Yes!”

“Let’s go with him, okay? But no talking until late, you still have school tomorrow”

He took Jisung’s hand and went to Changbin’s room. Changbin was more of a light sleeper; as soon as he heard the door he opened his eyes. Oh, but he didn’t look like he was sleeping at all. He had Gyu by his side and he hugged him tighter. Changbin had trouble sleeping ever since he arrived, but Chan had thought that was solved. He’d have to talk to him about it.

As soon as Chan let go of Jisung’s hand, the kid sprinted to Changbin’s bed, making Changbin laugh.

“What is going on?” Changbin asked.

“We’re having a sleepover!” Jisung said, a little too loud. Chan shushed him.

“Remember Innie is sleeping, Jisung” Jisung open his eyes a lot and covered his mouth with both hands. Chan snickered. “Okay boys, I’m going to need you to sleep now, you have school early”

Jisung immediately cuddled up to Changbin, who just put his toy aside to hug Jisung back. Chan smiled, those two would be okay.

He then changed the sheets on Jisung’s bed, prepared bathroom supplies and then it was waiting.

He was falling asleep when he heard a door knock, it was 1 am.

He opened to Jihyo, his social worker, holding a kid’s hand, the kid’s hood was up and he was staring at the floor.

“What’s the overview?” asked Chan not being able to stop staring at the small figure.

“He and his mother came to Korea a year ago, they were homeless, his mother couldn’t take the winter, but he’s in good health, she probably tried to protect him first.” Chan’s heart ached, but he was grateful to the boy’s mother. “He speaks very little Korean, we’re trying to find family here or in Australia.”

“Thank you, Jihyo; I’ll take care of him”

“I know you will, Chan. Then, goodnight”.

Chan took the child’s hand and closed the door behind him, then he crouched to meet the child’s eyes. He looked up at Chan, his eyes were watery and his nose red from the cold. Chan couldn’t help but smile at the dozens of freckles on the kid’s face. The Australian sun, probably. He had Korean features but apparently was never taught Korean. Chan related to that and felt even worse for the kid.

“Hello, I’m Bang Chan, but you can call me Chris” he spoke in English. The kid looked at him desperately, probably recognizing the accent. “What is your name?”

“Felix” the kid spoke, his voice wasn’t as high as he expected, but it was definitely weak.

“Well Felix, you will be staying here for the night and maybe some more, would you like me to show you the house or do you want to sleep?”

Felix stayed quiet for a few minutes, but Chan didn’t rush him. Then, he murmured something.

“What’s that, Felix?”

“…hungry”

“You’re hungry? Let’s go to the kitchen. Can I take your hand?”

Shyly, Felix reached for Chan. When they got to the kitchen, Chan gave him some chicken nuggets that were left by Jeongin. Felix ate all of them very quick; the kid probably didn’t get much to eat on the daily.

“Are you tired, Felix?” Chan asked him, handing him a bottle of juice. The kid nodded. “Would you rather sleep and then shower tomorrow?” He nodded again.

Chan took his hand again and led him upstairs to Jisung’s room. He pointed at Changbin’s door. “Here sleeps Changbin and Jisung, they’re 10 and 9, how old are you, Felix?”

“N-nine” Chan got worried, he looked so small, maybe even more than Jeongin, but he knew his life wasn’t easy.

“I’m sure you and Jisung will get along just fine, then, he’s really good at English” Chan then pointed at Jeongin’s room. “That’s Jeongin’s room, he’s almost 8. And that’s my room; my husband Woojin is asleep there. If you need anything during the night, just knock on the door” Felix nodded.

They entered Jisung’s room and Chan gave Felix pajama’s.

“I’m- I’m dirty” Felix whispered.

“But you need to sleep, it’s okay, we can wash this tomorrow, okay?” Chan led him to the bathroom in the room. “Change here, I’ll be right outside.”

After a few minutes Felix came out with one of Jeongin’s pajamas, even those were big on him, but Chan smiled. “Alright, Felix, do you want me to stay until you fall asleep?” Felix looked hesitant. “Would you like to sleep on your own?” The kid nodded. “Okay, then goodnight, and don’t be afraid to knock on the door.”

Chan went to his room, it was already 2 am, he laid down on his bed, trying not to wake up Woojin and sighed. The next day would be even more difficult.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> commentary and criticism are absolutely always welcomed!


	2. what hurts the most

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felix's first day and Jisung's past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just a disclaimer!  
> this is set in a world in korea were gay marriage and gay parenting are completely legal, also the foster care system is based on the american one on info i found online.  
> please also check end notes!

Chan woke up at 6 am to make coffee, Woojin was making breakfast and Chan took that chance to make the kid’s school lunch. Then, he went to check up on Felix. Surprisingly, he was asleep; most children had trouble sleeping the first nights. He then went to wake up the kids.

They were all sat at the breakfast table and Chan looked at Woojin nervously. Woojin smiled at him.

“Okay, kids, I’ve got news” Chan said.

“Are we finally getting a dog?” asked Jisung while Jeongin chanted “dog” over and over again.

“No, it’s not a dog. We… we have a new friend in the house, he arrived at night” Chan could immediately tell the confusion in Changbin’s face, the excitement in Jeongin’s and the utter disappointment and pain in Jisung’s, Chan felt out of breath. “Would you like to meet him?”

Jeongin nodded happily, it was the first addition to the family since Jeongin arrived just 7 months earlier. Changbin also nodded, but shoot a glance to Jisung, already guessing what Chan guessed. Jisung was sad.

“Okay, I’ll go get him” Chan went upstairs and was surprised to see Felix already up and making his bed.

Felix looked up to him and Chan smiled. “Hi, Felix, would you like to meet the other kids living here?” Felix looked hesitant but nodded. “Let’s go downstairs, they almost have to leave for school.”

When he got back to the table, Changbin was holding Jisung’s hand, Chan smiled thankfully at him. Woojin smiled and waved at Felix, he shyly raised his hand to wave back.

“Everyone, this is Felix, he doesn’t speak much Korean, mostly English, so please be patient with him” Jeongin immediately stood up in front of Felix, who look kind of scared.

“Hi, I am Jeongin, I am s-seven ye-years old” Jeongin said in very broken English, but it made Felix smile for the first time since he arrived.

“I’m Felix” he answered back also in English, thing that made Jeongin giggle.

“I am Changbin” said the oldest kid, also in English, still holding Jisung’s hand. Jisung didn’t speak, Chan could see the tears on his eyes.

“Hi hello, I am Woojin” his husband said extending a hand to Felix. Felix shook it and smiled at Woojin.

“Hi, hello” he said back. Chan smiled, at least he was talking to them.

“We should get going” mentioned Woojin, looking at his clock and then kissing Chan, he could feel Felix staring. Jeongin got up and took his backpack, Jisung and Changbin followed.

When they left, Chan turned to Felix. “Well, do you want a bath? I have a very cool purple bath bomb”

“Bath bomb?”

“Yes, it makes the water purple, it’s like you’re swimming in grape juice!” Felix smiled a little bigger and nodded.

He took Felix to his bathroom and started filling the tub.

“Did they go to school?” Felix asked, voice still quiet but not as shaky as before. That was a big win in Chan’s book.

“Yes, they did. Woojin did, too, he’s a music teacher at university”

“And you?”

“I’m a music producer” Felix looked at him, impressed. “Would you like me to play you a song I made?”

He ended up playing the instrumental to Placebo while Felix was very focused on the purple water. Chan asked him if he needed help and Felix agreed, so now Chan was scrubbing him.

“I like your song” Felix said.

“Well, thank you!”

“C-Chris?”

“Yes, Felix?”

“Where do dead people go? Where did mommy go?”

Chan froze. He wasn’t ready for that. In his time being a foster parent, he got kids asking if their parents were sleeping, what happened to them, but never once got a kid so conscious of their parent’s death.

“Were you raised religious, Felix?” the kid nodded. “People go to heaven when they die, and from there, they become angels that watch over you.”

“Is mommy an angel?”

“Yes, and she’s looking after you.”

“Mommy’s lips were blue. Do angels have blue lips?”

Chan was on the verge of tears. Felix spoke with such innocence and hope about such a horrible situation. Chan decided he was going to protect him for as long as he could.

“Yes, angels have blue lips.”

 After that Felix didn’t speak, but he seemed more relaxed and tired. When they finished Chan gave Felix some old clothes of Jeongin’s. Felix seemed very happy about his new yellow sweater.

Chan also gave him some breakfast and then toys and while he played he checked his mail, he got one from Jihyo.

_We spoke to the kid’s grandmother, his mother’s mother, she’s very old and lives in an asylum, she can’t take the kid. But she explained to us that they escaped from an abusive home back in Australia, the husband is already being investigated but no family of his will take Felix and the grandmother is the only mother’s relative we could find. It seems like you will have to take the kid for a while._

Chan felt relieved, at least he knew the kid would be fine, but his heart ached for Felix. He was so small and sweet, and yet he had already gone through so much.

“It seems like you will be staying here for a while, Felix” Chan informed him.

“I like it here, you’re all nice to me.”

“I’m glad it’s like that. You look tired, Felix, would you like to sleep a little more?

“Yes, please.”

He took the kid to bed once again and then did some work.

When Felix woke up it was almost time for the kids to arrive from school. Usually a friend’s dad dropped them off. There was a knock at the door and Felix looked alarmed but Chan calmed him.

He opened the door to find Hyunjin’s father, who picked up his kids from school.

“Chan, hi” said Jinyoung, the father, as the kids took out their backpacks from the car. “Do you mind if Hyunjin stays here today? I have a sudden work call”

“Oh, sure.” He answered as the kids showed up at the door, Hyunjin waved at him.

“Thank you, then see you at night.”

The kids entered the living room, where Felix was currently in, but Jisung went straight to his room. Chan sighed, he was going to have a talk with him.

“Chris, does he live here, too?” Felix asked him, looking at Hyunjin, who was discussing something with Changbin, that something being Felix.

“Not anymore, he used to live here but now he’s just here as a friend”

When Jinyoung was called to war, Hyunjin didn’t have any other family, so Chan offered to take him until and if his father returned. Luckily, he returned and Hyunjin went back home, but still hanged around at Chan’s house more often than not.

“Hey, guys” he called for his other kids. “Would you mind taking Felix? Maybe show him some Korean books for him to learn, Hyunjin is good at English”

The kids seemed excited about the idea, just as Chan expected. He turned to Felix. “Hey, they want to play with you, is that okay?”

Felix looked surprised but still nodded. Changbin showed him the way to his room.

Chan also made his way upstairs to Jisung’s room. He wasn’t surprised to find him bawling his eyes out, Chan felt guilty for sending him to school in that state.

“Sungie?”

“No.”

“Jisung, please let me talk to you” Chan asked, sitting on Jisung’s bed.

“You said three, you and dad promised it would be three.” Jisung sobbed. “Now he’s here and you’re going to get rid of me.”

Chan flinched. Jisung’s story was complicated.

His mother got remarried, she and the guy had a child and from then on, Jisung was neglected. The guy gave everything to his son, but barely even fed Jisung, Jisung’s mother didn’t do anything about it. Jisung was already four when that happened; he understood the situation enough for it to scar him. Then the guy got abusive only to Jisung, the neighbors noticed and Jisung was out of that house, bearing neglecting and abuse for two whole years.

Now, every time Woojin and Chan brought someone new home Jisung got triggered. But this time it was worse, this time Chan broke an arrangement he had with Jisung: no more than three kids.

“Jisung, how long have you been here?” Chan asked, rubbing circles in Jisung’s back.

“Three years.”

“How many kids have come and gone in the house since then?”

“F-four, six with Binnie and Jeongin.”

“Yes. And guess what, Sungie? We still love you so much, so much we even adopted you, and now no one can take you from us. Woojin and I have so much love to give and Felix needed our help”.

Jisung began stirring, interested. “What happened to Felix?”

“His dad was mean to him, like yours.” Jisung flinched, but Chan knew he was feeling emphatic now.  “And then his mommy passed away. He’s from Australia, just like me, and he was alone and sad. Do you remember how that feels?”

Jisung started crying again, but this time he let Chan hug him.

“I want to help Felix. Do you want to help him, too?”

Jisung nodded against Chan’s chest. “Do you still love me?”

“I love you to the sun and back, Sungie. I’m sorry for not telling you about him before, but I promise him being here won’t change my love for you”

Jisung nodded again. “I love you, too, Channie.”

“Great, now, do you want to go play with them? Your English is very good and Felix is your age, he’ll need some help.”

“I’m going to help him” Jisung answered decidedly. Chan smiled at him. It would all be fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi guys, thanks for reading!  
> please comment what you want to see in this story.  
> i still have to introduce the other kid's past and the outside members, so those are coming but what kind of scenarios would you like to see with baby skz??  
> also feel free to talk to me on twt @syub_yoon


	3. learning to be together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felix's first week.

The rest of the week passed by in a blur of work, Felix and nightmares, something Felix seemed to have a lot of, but Woojin was better at calming him down.

It was all going well, Jisung got along with Felix perfectly; Changbin helped Felix with his Korean and Jeongin made Felix smile. It was all well… until the first incident happened.

 It was already mid-week; he was working while the kids did their homework when he heard a crash and Changbin screaming. He ran to their room and found Felix crying in a corner while Changbin yelled at him.

Jeongin and Jisung looked just as terrified. Jisung held Jeongin back from trying to go to Changbin. Good.

“Changbin” Chan didn’t scream, he just spoke with a firm voice to catch the kid’s attention. “I’m going to give you 10 seconds to calm down. Count with me.”

They counted to ten, Changbin’s death grip on what seemed to be a pencil slightly relaxed. When the ten seconds passed Changbin was breathing heavy, he seemed regretful and sad.

“Jisung, please go hug your brother. You did well, Bin, thank you for calming down.”

Jisung immediately stood up and hugged Changbin as his breathing slowed down, he hugged Jisung back. Chan gestured Jeongin to go out of the room and he did. Then he turned to Felix, who was still curled up and crying. He carried him to Jisung’s (now his) room and sat him down on the bed.

“Are you okay?” Chan spoke in English, they had been trying to use Korean with Felix to get him to learn more, but he knew his was probably too shocked to understand. “Are you hurt? What happened?”

Felix shook his head. “I took one of Changbin’s toys without asking. I tried to apologize b-but he started screaming.”

“Come here” he opened his arms to Felix and hugged him. “He didn’t mean to, sometimes, Changbin gets really angry and he can’t help it, but we’re working on it. You don’t have to be scared of him, Lix. If this ever happens again and I’m not there tell him to count to ten.”

Changbin had anger management issues, just like his father did. His father was in some sketchy drug-related business when the police found him, Changbin was sent to a foster house with way too many children and Changbin developed anger issues and became really possessive of his stuff, they put him out of many houses until Chan took him in. They were working on it, Changbin went to therapy and he was getting better.

 “I’m going to go talk to Changbin now, and then he’ll come back to apologize, yes?” Felix nodded.

Chan went to Changbin’s room to find Changbin and Jisung sat side by side on the floor. Chan sat in front of them.

“Sungie, sweetie, would you mind going out while I speak to your brother?” Changbin tightened his grip around Jisung’s hand as Jisung shook his head vigorously. Chan smiled.

For some reason, those two were always overprotective of each other. When Changbin arrived, they hated each other, and Chan almost had to send Changbin away, but one day was all it took for them to become close, or better said, one night they had to share a room together. Since then, they were as close as it got.

“Okay, then, stay. Binnie, I already talked to Felix, but you have to go apologize, okay?” Changbin nodded, looking sad. “Hey, you did very well calming down, okay? Let’s go.”

He took Changbin’s hand and led him to Felix.

“I’m sorry” Changbin said. Felix shook his head.

“No, I’m sorry for…” he struggled with his words. “Toy.”

Changbin smiled. “Taking your toy.”

“Taking your toy” Felix repeated.

“It’s okay. His name is Gyu, you can play with him.” Then Changbin hugged Felix and Felix giggled.

From then on, Felix always asked Changbin for his stuff, however little it was, and he knew it lessened Changbin’s anxiety.

Those children would be good for each other.

 

The second incident came with Jeongin. He was sick.

Jeongin’s family died in a house fire when he was a baby, and because he was so small and he didn’t receive medical attention immediately (or afterward, for that matter, as the houses he had been in before neglected his medical care) the smoke affected his lungs permanently.

This time it wasn’t even as bad as usually, Chan was in control. Woojin bought his medicine without much trouble, and the other kids knew how to help.

But Felix panicked. It was understandable, Chan thought, after all, the kid had just experienced a really traumatic event: his mother’s death. So from the first time he heard Jeongin cough, he went in full panic mode.

“It’s okay, Lix” Chan had told him. “He just has to take his medicine and he’ll be fine again.”

“But he looks so sick, what if something happens to him?” he asked, eyeing a sleeping Jeongin, who had stayed home while his brothers went to school. Chan smiled at how quick he had gotten attached to Jeongin, although it was not hard, Jeongin had a magnetic, loveable personality.

 “What if you help me take care of him?” Chan asked and Felix nodded very decidedly, he couldn’t help but snicker.

“Okay, put a bag of tea and some honey in this cup, he needs to take his medicine and a hot drink will make him feel better.”

Felix immediately did, maybe putting a little too much honey, but he was sure that if he told Jeongin Felix had made it for him, the kid would take it even if it tasted horrible.

“Well done, Felix. Let’s get this to him and them you can watch a movie with him, okay?”

Chan carefully woke up the sleeping child and gave him his cough syrup, plus some special drops for his lungs.

“Very good, Innie, you’re a pro at this now!” Jeongin laughed at Chan’s encouragement, which was the least he could do with how often the little kid got sick. “Lix made this tea for you!”

Jeongin opened his eyes a lot and looked back from Felix to Chan. Felix stood at the side of the bed, embarrassed but smiling.

“Thank you, Lixie!” the kid exclaimed as he took the cup and drank his tea happily.

“You’re welcome” answered Felix with a little accent.

“Innie, do you feel well enough to go watch a movie with Felix while I work?” the kid nodded enthusiastically. “Very well, up you go.”

He took them to the living room and played Frozen. Jeongin decided he would lie on Felix’s lap, and Felix let him, occasionally petting his hair.

It seemed like Jeongin had gained another big brother.

 

Woojin and Chan laid down together on their bed. Everyone and everything was quiet for now.

Chan curled up to Woojin, sighing. Woojin chuckled.

“I feel sorry for leaving you with the kids so much, especially now with Felix” Woojin said, hugging his husband tighter. Chan smiled to himself.

“Hey, we’re lucky that one of us has such a free job, don’t worry about it, professor”

“I guess you’re right” he sighed. “Oh, Jeongin’s birthday is soon.”

“Already? I swear it was just Jisung’s birthday. Oh, right, I forgot to tell you, Felix is only a day younger than Sungie” Chan had found through Jihyo. Woojin smiled.

“I’d like to spend more time with Felix.”

“You could take the boys shopping tomorrow. Felix needs clothes that aren’t Jeongin’s and since Innie is sick and can’t go, you and the kids can buy him a gift” Chan suggested, Woojin hummed.

“Sounds good to me” his husband answered, kissing him softly.

Chan smiled and kissed him back. “You know, when you told me you wanted to be a foster parent, I never thought we would be getting such amazing kids.”

“We’re truly lucky. But not luckier than when I met you”

“Oh, shut up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading!!  
> as always, your comments and suggestions are my everything uwu


	4. shopping shopping shopping!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Woojin spends some quality time with the boys.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> welcome back! please check end notes.

It was around 11 am when Woojin was preparing to leave the house and Jeongin complained.

“I’m okay! I can go, daddy!” the little one said, while his nose was red and his eyes looked glossy.

“I’m sure you are, sweetie. But I need you for a special mission today” his husband, Chan, said. The kid looked up interested. “I have to go to the studio, and I need an assistant.”

Jeongin started jumping up and down. “Yes! I’ll go.”

“Go change, then”

Woojin smiled at Chan as Jeongin ran to his room. “You’re way better at this than me.”

“No, you’re just too soft for them.” Chan kissed him, smirk on his lips.

“Maybe” Woojin ruffled Chan’s hair. “Kids, let’s go.”

Jisung, Changbin and Felix appeared from the living room, for some reason, Jisung’s hair looked like a tornado.

“We styled Sungie’s hair,” said Changbin catching the adults’ questioning look.

“He looks great…” said Woojin. “Are you sure you want to go like that, Sungie?”

Jisung nodded with a smile. “Jjikseu and Binnie did it for me!”

“Jjikseu?” questioned Chan, Felix looked kind of embarrassed but smiled.

“My mom used to call me Jjix” the kid answered. Woojin and Chan smiled at him. Woojin was glad Felix was comfortable to talk about his mother with the kids.

“Alright then, Jisung and stylists, get on the car.”

Felix seemed wary at first, but he still ended up in between the two other kids. Despite Felix being Jisung’s age, he looked a lot smaller than both of them. They’d have to make sure to take him to a nutritionist later.

The mall was close enough and since it was early there weren’t a lot of people, just like he wanted.

They first went inside a clothing store, Woojin wanted to get the hardest part out of the way.

“Okay, I want you two to pick at least two items. Jisung, Chan said you needed a new sweater, so go get that, yeah?” Jisung and Changbin nodded and went venture the store. Woojin turned to Felix. “Okay, you need a lot of clothes, yes?”

Felix didn’t really answer, but Woojin took him to the pants section and told him to pick at least three.

Shopping with his kids was different for each one of them. Jeongin was easy; he let them pick anything, he would pick the color and would wear it without much of a fuss.

Shopping with Jisung and Changbin was a whole other story. Changbin was extremely sensitive to textures, he also didn’t like tight clothes, and if you made him try on many things he’d get desperate and angry, which was never good. Now, he and Chan had a little list of fabrics the boy liked and never bought many things at once.

 Jisung got really anxious when shopping, never wanting a lot of things and since he learned how to read numbers and count money it became even harder, as expensive things made him even more anxious. Woojin thought it came from never having his own things and people not spending money on him. Either way, money was not a problem for their family, as the program covered some of the expenses of the kids, and they always told Jisung that. It didn’t make him less anxious, but it took off some of the stress off the kid.

Woojin was curious to see what Felix would do in that situation.

It did seem like he needed a lot of guidance, he didn’t check the price tags or materials. That was good, his mom probably bought him as much as she could.

He helped Felix try on different pants, shirt, and a few shoes. When they were finished they walked around the mall trying to find the other boys. They both had things in their hands, and Woojin took them to try them on.

Then, Woojin took them to a gift store. They seemed interested.

“Okay, guys, it’s Jeongin’s birthday soon, I want each of you to pick something for him.”

Excitedly, the kids ran to the store and it took at least half an hour for them to find a gift each. It was already lunchtime when they finished. Chan and Jeongin wouldn’t be back home until dinner, so Woojin just took the kids to a BBQ place. Felix looked completely amazed.

“It’s your first time?” Woojin asked the kid, who just nodded, still eyeing the grill carefully. Woojin snickered at his cute surprised face when the waiter put meat on it.

Felix seemed careful when he ate, but the satisfaction is his face told Woojin he had done right.

Going back home, Felix was falling asleep in his seat between Changbin and Jisung, until Jisung gasped.

“Daddy, can we go get ice cream?”

Felix immediately woke up and sleepily whispered “ice cream?”

And what was Woojin gonna do? Say no?

They all cheered when Woojin pulled over at Dairy Queen.

As soon as they got home, the kids decided to watch a movie and convinced Woojin to join them. They ended up watching Captain America.

Not even 10 minutes in, Felix began to fall asleep. Woojin pulled the kid’s head towards his lap and Felix closed his eyes. Woojin didn’t even notice when he began to fall asleep, too.

He was woken up by the sound of the door opening, Felix was still curled on his lap. He glanced at the clock, already 5 pm. Changbin and Jisung were nowhere in sight, but Woojin wasn’t worried about them.

Chan entered with bags of what Woojin guessed was food and Jeongin by the hand, looking a lot more alive.

“Hi!” Chan exclaimed to then make a face of panic when Felix stirred in his sleep. “Oh, I didn’t see him there. How was everything?”

“It was great” Woojin answered with a smile, petting Felix’s hair. Jeongin ran to the stairs, probably wanting to tell his brothers all about his day at the studio.

“Nice. I’m going to make dinner.”

“Let me wake him up and I’ll join you.”

Chan headed to the kitchen and Woojin turned to Felix, shaking him slightly.

“Lix, wake up.”

The kid stirred and made a little complaint noise. After shaking him a little more, he opened his eyes and sleepily blinked at Woojin.

“Chan and I are making dinner, you want to join us?”

Felix nodded and stood up from Woojin’s lap. They joined Chan at the kitchen and only sent Felix away when he started tearing up at the onion.

They ate together and Woojin felt his heart fuller than ever. He loved his family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> someone wanted woojin interacting with the kids so here it is!  
> QUESTION!   
> would you prefer i introduce the two missing members (seungmin and minho) or that i write flashbacks to when the kids arrived first?  
> they're both happening, i just want to know what you prefer to read in the next chapters!


	5. a box of crayons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How it all started.

Finally, after months of preparation, moving into a new house and getting a green light from social services, Chan and Woojin could once and for all take their first foster kid.

Chan remembered meeting and falling in love with Woojin in College, they both were studying music. When they started dating and talking about the future, Chan immediately knew he wanted Woojin to be in it.

They graduated and got married as soon as possible. As a final project, Chan had produced, written and performed a track. He sent said track to many recording labels and to his surprise, he was accepted by many, including JYP, one of the biggest companies in South Korea.

It was also struck of luck that Woojin got a job at a high school so fast, getting enough money for their little apartment wasn’t as difficult as they had expected and they were incredibly grateful.

But a few years later, they wanted more. They were happy, but they knew something was missing from their lives: children. Woojin had always wanted to have kids and Chan also got excited at the prospect.

One day Woojin got home with a pamphlet for the foster care system. It didn’t take much convincing for Chan to accept. If they could help as many children as possible, they would. And so the preparations began.

Woojin got a new job at the college they had studied in. Chan made as many tracks as humanly possible and maybe even more. They went to a training center for a few months, and when they had enough money, they bought a bigger house. And like that, their journey began.

They thought they were ready for everything, but when Chan got called by social services for the first time, he felt all but ready.

“What if the kid doesn’t like me?” he asked Woojin as they waited for the worker to arrive. “What if I can’t take care of them? Oh my god, Woojin, what if I can’t help him?”

“Chan. Stop.” Woojin told him. “We’re going to learn, okay? It will all be okay.”

A social worker, a pretty woman named Jihyo, knocked on their door. Chan and Woojin both jumped from their seats. As Chan opened the door, his eyes immediately traveled to the little kid. He was very thin, very small, wearing a yellow shirt and his incredibly big and shiny eyes looked scared.

“This is Jisung,” the woman said. “We just got him out of an abusive household. No family wanted to take him. We’ll send you more information as soon as we can. I trust you will take care of him.”

Then she left, and it was just Chan, Woojin and a kid in the house.

“Jisung, right?” Chan asked, kneeling to face the kid. He looked startled and took a step back. Right, the kid was abused, getting too close was probably not smart. “It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you. My name is Chan, this is my husband Woojin, and we’re going to take care of you, Jisung. Is that okay?”

The kid looked back and forth at them but slowly nodded. That was the start.

Jisung cried a lot the first days; he also got really scared at any sudden movements from Chan or Woojin.  But it was okay, they made it okay.

The first time Jisung called Woojin “daddy”, Chan cried.

He had been with them for about two months and so far they had no other kids. Jisung was sick, incredibly feverish; Chan suspected his diet wasn’t really working. What was worse, Chan was incredibly busy, with a deadline facing him. He called Woojin in a hurry and luckily he was allowed to leave early from work.

Still in panic, Chan was trying to cool down Jisung’s temperature. That was when the kid feverishly started mumbling.

“What is it, Sungie? Woojin will be here soon.”

“Daddy… Woojin. Channie, I want daddy.”

…Daddy? Chan felt tears burn behind his eyes but still smiled.

“Is Woojin Daddy, Ji?” The kid nodded. Chan felt proudness and warmth spread through him.

Jisung was asleep again when Woojin arrived. Chan looked at Woojin smiling, tears in his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Woojin asked, Chan’s smile grew bigger as he carefully woke Jisung up.

Jisung opened his eyes and scanned Chan’s face, then, he focused on Woojin and started whining.

“Daddy…”

Woojin’s face was of pure shock, he looked at Chan trying to get a confirmation, Chan only nodded.

“I’m here, Sungie,” Woojin said, kneeling on the side of the bed.

To say Chan wasn’t jealous of Jisung calling Woojin ‘daddy’ and him only ‘Channie’ was a lie, but at the same time, he was happy for both Woojin and Jisung.

Chan and Woojin learned how to be fathers, Jisung learned to trust again. They were learning together every step of the way.

 

By the time Changbin arrived, two kids had come and gone (something Jisung wasn’t happy about, but had to get used to).

Changbin was small and incredibly angry. He had already gone through many other houses, all horrible. And yet, he calmed down when Chan played music to him. Chan quickly became attached to Changbin, and Jisung noticed.

Jisung was jealous of Changbin and maybe even a little triggered since Changbin was the first kid that arrived that Chan spent so much time with. Jisung was scared.

Despite how many times Chan told Jisung he would never change him or leave him on his own, the kid just didn’t believe him and started being passive-aggressive to Changbin. The older kid, of course, noticed and returned that energy.

Having them both in the same room was a nightmare.

“I think we have to send Changbin away,” said Chan to Woojin one night.

“Chan…”

“I know, I really love him, but I just can’t have two kids constantly triggering each other. The amount of times Changbin has had an anger attack fighting with Jisung is alarming. Jisung feels neglected, again. Woojin, I can’t have that.” Chan vented all of his worries into Woojin’s arms, his husband caressing his hair.

“If that’s what you think it’s best, I’m not going to stop you.”

In the end, they didn’t have to.

Two new kids arrived at the same time; they needed the rooms, which meant Jisung had to sleep with Changbin.  Chan was extremely worried, but also had two other kids to tend to.

To date, Chan didn’t know what went down that night. Jisung and Changbin were suddenly close, protective of each other and never once fought again. It was the biggest relief of his life.

Changbin was also an amazing student and even though he had his anger issues, he always helped Chan with the new kids. He was empathetic and incredibly kind and he worked really hard to get better. He loved having Woojin read to him at night, he seemed to be a really sensitive kid with deep emotions, something that also clicked with Jisung's sentimental personality and Chan and Woojin's artistic raising. 

Changbin was the perfect addition to their family.

 

Chan and Woojin were going to officially adopt Changbin and Jisung.  After two years and no answer from social services, it seemed like the only natural thing to do. Chan and Woojin went to the office to start the paperwork when they saw Jeongin.

He was small, probably younger than Jisung. He was sat at one of the chairs, sniffling.

“We had to take him out of a foster house for the fifth time, at this rate he might end up in an orphanage,” Jihyo told him when she noticed Chan’s attention on the kid.

“Why?” Chan asked.

“He’s been in and out of houses since he was born. Too sick, too problematic, too hard to take care of, it's what we’ve been told. He hasn’t had good luck with houses.”

Chan turned to look at Woojin and saw the same desperation to help the child in his face.

“Can we talk to him?” Woojin asked. Jihyo smiled lightly and nodded.

Chan and Woojin approached the kid, who eyed them carefully, slightly tilting his head. Chan already loved his cute little face and big eyes.

“Hello, what’s your name?” Chan asked the boy.

“Jeongin,” the kid answered, eyeing Chana almost defiantly.

“I heard you don’t have a house anymore, Jeongin,” Chan continued.

“I don’t want a house,” Jeongin said pouting.

“Did you know Jeongin,” Woojin started, “that our house is full of snacks and toys? We also have two other kids that love making friends.”

Jeongin was still eyeing them carefully, but his pout subsided.

“We actually have a free room right now, would you maybe want to take it? You can even paint it any color you want,” Chan carefully took the child’s hand in his, Jeongin flinched but accepted the contact, nodding slowly.

“Even sharks?”

“Of course!” Woojin responded. “You can have sharks in your room.”

“I wanna go to your house,” the kid finally answered. Chan and Woojin smiled at each other.

That day, they left with adoption papers and a new kid in hand.

As always, Jisung didn’t take it very well, but he was older now, at least he seemed to understand the situation better. He still seemed really down and Chan sat down to talk to him.

“What’s wrong, Sungie?”

“Jeongin is cute,” Jisung pouted.

“He is, do you like him?” Jisung nodded. “Then what’s the problem?”

“I don’t want him to leave like the others, I don’t want anyone else in the house,” Jisung started crying, his little hands clenching his hoodie. Chan smiled at him. He understood that Jisung didn’t like new people, but he also got attached too quickly.

“I can’t promise Jeongin is not going to leave, okay? But let’s make a deal, we’ll only have you three in the house.”

“Only us?”

“Only you. Does that sound good?” Jisung nodded again.

Jeongin seemed to be the missing piece in their puzzle. Jisung adored him and he got along well with Changbin despite the age gap. Chan and Woojin also fell for him fast.

Jeongin, Chan found, wasn’t problematic or hard to take care of. He was playful and mischievous but also was incredibly sweet, obedient and loveable. He just didn't have the right environment and that's why he acted up so much.

To Chan, Jeongin was a dot on a piece of paper, and he was willing to make from that dot a magnificent picture. He knew Jeongin was able to become an amazing person. He knew his kids were destined to be amazing people.

He was proud of his family, proud of his life. They fit perfectly like crayons on a box, all of them had different colors and some of them were a little broken, but broken crayons still color, and one day, they would all become a beautiful drawing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had planned to do a whole chapter per each kid, but in the end, decided to keep it short and simple and continue to flesh out the characters as the story moves forward.  
> As always, suggestions and requests are always welcomed!!


	6. nine!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meet the rest of the kids.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A more lighthearted chapter. Enjoy!

As soon as Jisung got home from school on a Friday, he ran around the house, moving and throwing things.

“Jisung, what are you doing?” Chan asked, trying to contain his laughter.

“Cleaning!” Jisung answered decidedly.

“The house is already clean, love.”

“But Minho is coming and it has to be perfect,” now Chan was laughing and he wasn’t so sure if it was because of Jisung’s little lisp form his missing tooth or because of Jisung’s crush on Minho.

Minho was a sweet kid from Changbin’s class, the first time he went to their house he seemed serious, polite and maybe even robotic. But after a few more times, Minho seemed to be a really funny kid, often playing pranks on people and being unpredictable. Chan liked Minho, but Jisung liked Minho ever more.

“Seungmin and Hyunjin are coming too, you know that, right?” Chan asked in a teasing voice.

“Yes, I invited them,” Jisung nodded.

“Then why are you not worried about them?”

Jisung tilted his head like a puppy and then looked at Chan in panic like he didn’t understand his own reasoning. After a few more seconds of staring, he gave up and started picking up things again.

“I’m cleaning, Chan,” the kid said decidedly.

“Alright, then,” Chan said, still chuckling.

Woojin had taken Changbin and Minho shopping for snacks so when the doorbell rang Jisung jumped out of his seat. “They’re here!”

“It’s probably Seungmin, Ji. Woojin wouldn’t ring the doorbell.” Jisung sat back down with a pout as Chan went to open the door. And just as he expected Seungmin, Hyunjin and Seungmin’s dad, Wonpil were at the door.

“Hi, Minnie, Jinnie” Chan greeted. “Ready for the sleepover?” 

The kids nodded excitedly and ran into the house, already used to their routine. Every month they had a sleepover, usually at Chan’s house since it was the biggest.

“Remember when Seungmin used to be shy around you?” Wonpil asked with a sigh. “Now I think he likes you and Woojin more than me.”

“I wouldn’t doubt it,” Chan answered with a wink, Wonpil playfully punched his arm.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, I guess. Don’t let Seungmin eat hard candy, he has a loose tooth.”

“Jisung’s tooth just fell, and wouldn’t they love to match?” Chan sighed, remembering the time Jisung cried for hours when Seungmin broke his arm and he couldn’t break it too to match with his friend’s cast.

Wonpil laughed and hugged Chan briefly before leaving.

When Chan walked back to the living room, the kids were already playing with Jisung’s plush toys. Seungmin seemed invested in whatever story they were making, while Jisung and Hyunjin were more focused on making the toys look pretty. Chan smiled at the sight and went to check up on Felix.

He was surprised to not find him in his room until he heard laughter coming from Jeongin’s room. When he walked in, he immediately felt tears forming. Felix was lying on the carpet with a children’s book in his hands; Jeongin was lying on Felix’s stomach, giggling.

“What are you doing?” Chan asked, smiling softly.

“Lix is learning how to read!” Jeongin answered, sitting down.

“That’s very nice!” Chan said. “How is it going?”

It had been two weeks since Felix arrived and now he knew basic sentences to ask for things. Chan had been teaching him how to read, and he was fairly good at it, considering Chan also had to teach him how to read in English. After a few talks with their social worker, they decided a private teacher would be much better than sending Felix to school, at least for a few years until he got fluent in Korean.

“Bad,” Felix answered, but he didn’t look sad about it like he usually did, instead, he was giggling with Jeongin.

“You’ll get better,” Chan said. “Seungmin and Hyunjin are already here if you want to go down to play.”

“Lixie, come!” Jeongin exclaimed grabbing Felix’s hand. “You have to meet Minnie.”

Without any other words or warning, Jeongin dragged Felix down the stairs to the living room. Jeongin’s laugh and Seungmin’s little screech was heard all the way from there.

Chan went back down and soon after the sound of keys was heard. He went to the door as Woojin was closing it, he kissed him quickly and helped him with the bags full of snacks and food.

A little “ew” was heard and Chan looked around until he saw Changbin scrunching up his nose.

“What?” Chan asked annoyed. “You want one too?”

Chan leaned down to trap Changbin before he started running and messily kissed his nose, forehead, and cheeks. When Changbin finally escaped after squirming and yelling, Chan saw Minho laughing.

“You want one, too, Mr. Lee?” Chan asked him raising an eyebrow. Minho shook his head and ran behind Changbin still laughing.

Chan turned to Woojin, who was still standing at the door, smiling fondly. Chan kissed him again.

After lunch, Chan left a few snacks on Changbin’s room, where they decided they would be staying in while Chan and Woojin watched a movie cuddled up on the couch. Every once in a while, Chan went to check up on the kids, each time feeling his heart full of affection for the seven children in his life because maybe they weren’t all his, but he still loved them all the same.

Chan was somewhat worried about Felix since he seemed nervous when Chan brought up the sleepover with him just a few days earlier. But in the end, he didn’t have to be. Felix was getting comfortable with Chan’s kids and the outside kids were all incredibly nice. Every time Chan checked up on them, Felix was smiling, playing and looking generally excited.

Chan also couldn’t help but notice Jisung’s and Minho’s interactions. Minho seemed to be very protective of Jisung, the “hyung” syndrome, and Jisung seemed to like Minho’s attention. They looked adorable, always stuck to each other, hugging or holding hands while they played.

Felix seemed to be comfortable with Seungmin, spending a lot of time by his side, probably because the kid had amazing English even for his age. Jeongin looked annoyed at them when they spoke in the foreign language but still laughed at everything.

When the night came and Chan sent them to change into their pajamas the kids already seemed tired, but Chan knew they probably still wouldn’t sleep until very late.

As they were waiting for each kid to change, Minho approached him.

“Hi, Chan,” he said casually, making Chan laugh.

“Hi, Minho. How are your dance classes going?”

“I’m the best in my class,” the kid answered smugly.

“Oh, I’m sure you are.”

“Chan, does Jisung like sweaters?”

Chan raised an eyebrow at Minho’s question. “He loves sweaters. Why?”

“Good. I saw a sweater with a squirrel on it and it reminded me of him so I asked my mom to buy it. But his birthday is so far from now…” Minho trailed off, but Chan was still surprised.

“You didn’t have to buy it, but if you want to give it to him, you don’t need a reason to. Sometimes a surprise gift can be really nice,” Chan said after a few seconds. Minho nodded, seemingly satisfied with Chan’s answer and then hopped off the bed to change his clothes.

Kids were truly amazing.

Since the sleepovers became basically a tradition, Chan didn’t even have to be worried about them anymore. Changbin and Jisung knew their secret code, a simple ‘what time is it?’ and Chan would know something was out of place with one of the kids, it helped a lot when the first few times Jeongin was there he felt sick or tired. So going to bed and leaving the kids on their own wasn’t a burden for Chan and Woojin.

The lights were off and Chan fell asleep cuddled up to Woojin to the sounds of child giggles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please feel free to leave me prompts or requests for this story! thanks for reading, i love you all uwu  
> ALSO YES I LOVE MINSUNG and if you do, too you should read my other stories owo


	7. not so stray

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look through Felix's eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for any mistakes! i posted this as soon as i finished it heh

Felix looked at the room full of boys in pajamas and felt scared. It was dumb to be scared because they were all nice to him; but he was afraid of not being able to talk to them, that because they were already friends Felix would be excluded. He was afraid of the nightmares he knew would come, just like every night.

Felix never remembered his nightmares; it was just darkness and the feeling of being scared and very cold. He hated them.

With a sigh he walked up to the door, immediately Jisung looked up at him and smiling, he signaled for Felix to sit next to him.

“Lix, Minho is showing me a dance video,” he said. Felix approached and Minho held his iPad further away from him for Felix to see.

The video was captivating; the description said Big Bang- Bang Bang Bang. Felix looked at Minho, who was slightly dancing to the music. When the video ended, Felix didn’t even realize because he was so busy staring at Minho, still slightly motioning the moves.  Minho looked back at him and his stare was so deep, Felix felt uncomfortable so he looked away.

“Do you dance, Felix?” Minho asked. Jisung turned to look at Felix, too.

“No,” was as Felix could answer. He wanted to say much more, that he’s never had a chance to try, that he wanted to do it, he just didn’t know how to. He felt frustrated.

“Stand up, I’ll teach you.”

Carefully, Felix stood up as Minho played the song again. They didn’t need words, it was just Minho slowly doing the moves and Felix following him. It was fun, Felix felt happy.

The rest of the boys saw them and Hyunjin even joined them while Jisung sang the lyrics in between giggles.

Felix never had friends. His parents never sent him to school and his mother was the only person Felix talked to. Felix hoped she would be happy to see him happy.

A few hours passed by playing card games and talking in whispers, trying to contain their laughs to not wake up the adults. Seungmin and Jisung did their best to translate for Felix and he was grateful, the guilt never quite left, though.

It was around 2 am when Jeongin started to fall asleep as they were huddled up watching more dance videos.

“Do you want to sleep, Innie?” Hyunjin asked him, Jeongin shook his head but his eyes were still closing.

“That’s okay, we can sleep and maybe go to the park tomorrow before you guys leave,” Jisung suggested. Agreements were heard and Jeongin pouted.

Since Jisung and Changbin now shared a room, two beds were pushed together and several sleeping bags were laid out on the floor, they were deciding where to sleep through rock, paper, scissors, but Felix felt too anxious. Changbin seemed to have noticed because he approached him and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Are you okay?”

“I… Nightmares,” there was no other way for him to say it. Changbin only nodded.

“I have them, too. You can sleep with me, so we can protect each other,” Changbin spoke slowly, something Felix was thankful for. Felix smiled at him.

In the end, Felix, Changbin, and Jeongin ended up on the beds with Felix in the middle, while the other placed their sleeping bags together on the floor. Felix stayed awake. He could hear Jeongin’s steady breathing, the rustling from Seungmin’s bag, Jisung and Minho having a whispered conversation besides each other.

Changbin turned around to face Felix and with semi-closed eyes he extended his arm to Felix, Felix cuddled up to him.

“If you have a nightmare, tell me and I’ll call Chan,” Changbin whispered.

“Okay,” Felix whispered back.

After what felt like an hour, after all of the sounds were replaced with the breathing of 6 other boys, after Felix decided he had to be brave about it, he closed his eyes and tried to match his friends' breathing.

When he opened his eyes again, the sun was shining through the window. He hadn’t dreamt at all, Changbin’s hand was now slightly holding Felix’s arm, Jeongin was completely curled up at his other side. He smiled.

Felix tried to sit down and with his movement, Jeongin woke up, too.

“Lixie, I’m hungry,” was the first thing the youngest said.

“Me, too.”

Changbin stirred and then opened his eyes. “Hi. How did you sleep?”

“Didn’t dream. Thank you,” Felix and Changbin smiled at each other. Changbin was only one year older than him, yet he was so caring and smart. Felix had seen it since he arrived and Changbin always took care of Jisung.

With the noise, everyone woke up, except for Jisung, who Minho had to throw a pillow at for him to wake up.

The rest of the morning, Felix felt a calmness he had never felt before. Seeing these other boys laughing and playing made him happy, being part of it made him happy. He prayed that his mother, his guardian angel, was watching.

When everyone left and those who stayed went to do their homework, Felix approached Chan and Woojin.

“I would like… dance classes,” Felix said. The amount of happiness in their faces made Felix embarrassed but happy, too.

“Anything you want, bub,” Chan answered and hugged him.

Felix had found a home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> surprise! did you like it? would you like more chapters narrated by the kids? please leave prompts and suggestions! love u all


	8. the medicine that is love

 

Chan was freaking out and because Chan was freaking out, Woojin was freaking out. Changbin was freaking out because he saw them freaking out and Jisung was freaking out because it was Jisung and he freaked out about everything. Felix was very quiet in the midst of all of the chaos.

Jeongin was sick, sicker than he had ever been before. Chan got called from school because Jeongin wasn’t breathing, as soon as he heard, he took Felix and drove to the school and then to the hospital.

He called Woojin, who tried to calm him down, but Chan felt out of breath. When they arrived at the hospital, Jeongin’s breathing had been regulated but was still heavy. Jisung made sure Jeongin sat straight and gave him little sips of water from time to time.

It was all going so well with Felix, he had his first private class, he went to a therapy session, Chan was happy for him but now he felt guilty, he almost felt like he was neglecting his other kids. That was the last thing he wanted.

They were at the waiting room, Jisung was shaking.

“Binnie, can you take Jisung for some candy? I saw a vending machine at the entrance,” Chan said, trying to keep his voice calm.

Changbin nodded and stood up from his chair, taking Jisung’s hand in his and they walked away.

Chan turned to look at Felix and he suddenly had a really strong urge to hug the boy. He did and Felix also sought comfort, burying his head in Chan’s chest.  

Chan’s head went back to the first time Jeongin was sick, it was the middle of the night and Chan was extremely worried, Woojin was his backbone in that situation, calming him and taking care of Jeongin, because, an emotional outburst? That he could control. A kid with nightmares? He could help with that. But sickness was something he couldn’t control, something scary that he had no way to solve.

With time, Chan got used to Jeongin getting sick, which was often but got progressively better. He was no longer scared, he was in control of the situation. But this time it looked different. This time Jeongin couldn’t even respond to them, his body was burning and he couldn’t even breathe. Chan felt guilty for not noticing.

Felix looked up at him. “Will Jeongin be okay?”

Chan’s heart broke at Felix’s face of concern and panic. Chan nodded, trying to ignore the knot on his throat. He was reminded that he had to be strong for his kids. “He will. It will all be okay.”

Changbin and Jisung came back, accompanied by Woojin, who looked just as distressed as Chan.

Chan let go of Felix and stood up to hug his husband, who rubbed circles on his back and whispered soothing words.

“Do you have any news?” Woojin asked.

“No, they just took him to inspection. Dr. Park said it would be around half an hour.” Chan answered.

They waited for a few more minutes, Changbin now holding onto Felix’s hand as Jisung sat all curled up in his chair. When the doctor came out, Chan sprinted up his seat.

“He’s stabilized now, it looks like he caught a virus, different from a normal cold, a few days rest and antibiotics will do, but  you must keep him inside at all times, he’s still delicate.”

Chan thanked the doctor and then he and his family were lead to Jeongin’s room. Jeongin was on a bed, pouting, but as soon as he saw them his eyes lit up and he smiled brightly at them, Chan was so full of love for him.

“Innie, you scared me,” Jisung ran to the bed and tried to hug Jeongin, who was still lying down.

“I’m okay!” Jeongin said brightly, showing a thumbs up. Chan smiled. Jeongin was like that.

Jeongin never complained, Jeongin never cried. Even when things were hard, Jeongin smiled brightly. Even Chan, who was much older than him and was supposed to be the wiser one, admired that part of Jeongin.

“I’m sure you are, bub,” Woojin said, ruffling Jeongin’s hair. “We’ll have to be careful now.”

“I’m glad you’re okay,” Felix whispered and Jeongin giggled.

“Binnie, don’t cry, I’m okay,” Jeongin said, just slightly teasing. Changbin shook his head angrily, tears obviously showing.

“I wasn’t crying.”

For the next few days, Chan stayed home at all times to look after Jeongin. Felix had classes for short periods of 3 to 4 hours and he was doing fairly well.

Chan still felt guilty, he still felt like he had to do more for his kids, but Woojin reassured him all the time.

“You’re doing the best you can, we have four troubled kids, Chan, we knew this wouldn’t be easy, and you’re doing amazing. Never forget that.”

By the end of the week, Jeongin was feeling much better and so was Chan.

Jeongin and Felix were playing charades, a recommendation from Felix’s teacher to help him learn vocabulary when Changbin and Jisung arrived from school, Jisung sporting a brand new squirrel sweater. Chan smiled to himself.

“Where did you get that from, Ji?” Chan asked, teasingly.

“Minho gave it to me!” Jisung answered happily. “He said it reminded him of me because…”

“Because of what?”

“Eh… nothing! Goodbye!” Jisung ran to his room and Changbin laughed behind him.

“Minho said it was cute and soft, just like Jisung,” Changbin whispered. “But don’t tell Jisung I told you.”

“Never,” Chan winked at him.

It seemed like his kids were doing fine. Maybe he couldn’t be with each of them all the time, maybe they had their incidents, but in the end, they were okay. He was a good father, he had to believe in Woojin’s words. He had to believe in himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry if this is too short! hopefully, the next chapter will be up soon tho  
> this was upon a request, so if you have a request or suggestion, feel free to leave them below!!  
> PLUS i made a curioscat https://curiouscat.me/gemini_nan  
> feel free to ask me anything about this or any other of my stories!


	9. broken but together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> probably the saddest chapter so far oops  
> PLEASE CHECK END NOTES

Having a happy family didn’t mean they didn’t have their own problems. Chan’s family, they loved each other and they liked being together; but it wasn’t always like that.

Having children with trauma coexisting was hard; loving those children without being able to get through them was harder. That’s how Chan felt when Changbin and Jisung had their first fight ever since they became friends, only this time it was worse.

Having children fighting when they didn’t know each other was very different than having kids as close they were fighting because they knew exactly where to hit.

Chan didn’t know how it all started, he was just working when he heard things being thrown. Hyunjin appeared in his studio, scared.

“Changbin and Jisung are fighting,” the kid said and Chan immediately ran to their room.

Jisung was crying and yelling “shut up, shut up” while covering his ears; Changbin was also crying and throwing things around. Minho was trying to get Jisung out of the room, but the kid didn’t move. Seungmin, Felix and Jeongin were all sat in a corner of the room, looking at the scene in concern. Hyunjin stood behind Chan.

“Stop, both of you,” Chan raised his voice. Changbin turned to look at him, his face was red like he wasn’t breathing. “Changbin, I’m going to count to ten, and I need you to breathe, okay?”

As Chan counted, he made a sign for Minho to take everyone out of the room. The boy did and then it was just Changbin, Jisung and him in the room.

“Jisung, go to Jeongin’s room, I’ll go talk to you after this,” Chan said, Jisung started to whine but it didn’t seem like just a tantrum, Chan started to get worried. “Sungie, please, I need you to go, I’ll be with you in a second.”

Still crying, Jisung stood up from the floor and walked away. Chan turned to Changbin, who was still catching his breath.

“What happened?” Chan asked but Changbin didn’t respond. “Changbin, what happened? You’re not going to tell me?”

Changbin shook his head and turned his back to Chan.

“Fine, then I guess you won’t mind staying here all day. When you decide to be mature about this, we can talk and you’ll get out, okay?” Once again, Changbin didn’t respond, Chan sighed and got out of the room.

When he got to Jisung, the boy looked in a terrible state. He was crying so much he couldn’t even breathe and as soon as he saw Chan, he ran to hug him.

“Jisung, what happened?” Chan’s voice got softer, Jisung was holding onto him like a lifeboat and Chan was reminded of how Jisung developed separation anxiety after a few months of living with them. After that, Jisung relied a lot on physical contact, he felt safer by having someone hold his hand or hugging him, and so despite being mad at the situation, Chan knew Jisung needed comfort.

“Changbin hates me,” Jisung said, still being unable to breathe. “And I hate him, too.”

“That’s not true, Ji,” Chan tried to reassure him, but now his worry grew bigger and bigger.

“It is and you hate me, too.”

Time stopped for Chan at the hurt in Jisung’s voice. “Jisung, you know we all love you.”

Jisung unlatched from him and plopped on the bed, covering his face with a pillow. Chan understood he wasn’t getting a word from him and decided that leaving him there would be better.

Chan made his way to the rest of the children, all quietly sat at the living room. Chan walked up to Minho and thanked him with an embarrassed smile.

“Are they okay?” Hyunjin asked, worry never leaving his face, by his side, Jeongin had dry tears all over his face.

“Changbin doesn’t want to talk, but he’s calmer now. Jisung just seems very sad,” Chan answered. “Neither of them told me what happened, do you know?”

“They said really bad things to each other,” Seungmin intervened. “And then Changbin got very angry.”

“What did they say?” Chan pushed, Seungmin looked uncomfortable, but Minho talked instead.

“I don’t know how it started, but Changbin told Jisung no one liked him because he was annoying. Then Jisung told Changbin that at least he wasn’t kicked out from foster houses for being a bad kid.”

Chan took a few seconds to process what Minho was saying, it was just incredibly hard to believe that his kids, that were very close and loving, that knew what it was like to have a difficult childhood, would attack each other like that.

“I’m sorry that you had to see that,” he told the kids. “They will be okay, don’t worry.”

Chan wasn’t even sure of his own words.

When Woojin arrived from work, all the outside kids were gone already, Felix and Jeongin watched a movie together and neither Changbin nor Jisung got out of their room. Chan hugged Woojin very tight.

“Hey, are you okay?” he asked, worried at Chan’s lack of words.

“Changbin and Jisung had a fight and I don’t know how to fix it.”

Woojin asked no questions; soon after, they were both in Jeongin’s room.

“Ji? What’s wrong?” Woojin asked softly. Jisung whined. “I heard you had a fight with your brother.”

“He’s not my brother, he doesn’t even like me,” Jisung answered, voice muffled by the pillow.

Woojin turned to look at Chan with obvious concern. Chan sighed.

“Minho told us what he said to you,” Jisung flinched. “Why did he say that?”

“It’s my fault, I’m annoying and needy.”

“That’s not true, Jisung,” Woojin said, voice firm, Jisung stood up to face them. His eyes were red. “You’re truly not.”

“Okay, I’m going to bring Changbin and then we’ll all talk,” Chan decided, already walking through the door when Jisung started denying him.

Changbin was sat on his floor mat doing nothing; he seemed startled when Chan walked in.

“Changbin, stand up, we’re going to talk about this.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Changbin, stand up,” the authority in his voice almost scared himself, but it worked. Chan took Changbin’s hand and soon, he and Jisung were sat at Jeongin’s bed, Woojin and Chan standing in front of them.

“Now tell us what happened,” Chan commanded. Jisung was looking at the floor, but Changbin raised his head and spoke up.

“Jisung was trying to steal Hyunjin’s attention from me even when I told him to wait,” Jisung hunched over even more and Changbin looked like he was about to cry. “I said… I said that that was the reason no one liked him because he was annoying. I didn’t mean it, I just got angry.”

And now Jisung was crying. Changbin was facing Jisung now as he continued explaining. “And then Jisung said that I was the annoying one because I was kicked out of my foster houses. I don’t remember anything after that.”

Like many times before, Chan was amazed at Changbin’s maturity, not only because of the way he spoke, but also the fact that he was able to admit he was in the wrong as well. Once again, Chan was taught something from his kids.

“I thought you hated me so I wanted to hate you, too,” Jisung whispered.

Silence followed for a few minutes. Woojin kneeled in front of them.

“What you did was not only wrong but you also hurt each other a lot, do you really want to go back to the time you fought every day?” Woojin’s voice was soft and full of emotion, Chan was once again, struck by love for his husband.

“What happened that night?” Chan asked. “How did you become friends?”

Jisung sobbed louder at the question. “Changbin helped me with my nightmares. He said he had them, too and he helped me sleep.”

“So you told each other your weaknesses, right?” Jisung nodded. “Then why would you use them against each other? You can fight, kids, fights between brothers are normal, but this was just malicious and hurt you a lot.”

Changbin also started crying and he looked at Jisung. “I’m sorry. I love you a lot. I’m sorry.”

Jisung immediately hugged Changbin. “I’m sorry, too.”

Having a happy family didn’t always mean happy times, it meant growth and time and emotions that sometimes were hard to control. Chan wanted his family to be happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello, hello! i asked you guys if you wanted me to start posting a story with teen skz at the same time as this or if you'd rather i finish this first.  
> i've come to the conclusion that i am going to finish this first and we only have a few chapters left.  
> as always, comments and suggestions are always welcome!


	10. officially happy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> short and sweet

After the death scare of Jeongin being sick, Chan and Woojin agreed it was time to adopt him. To be fair, they had been putting it off for ages, they had no reason not to do it, Jeongin had been on social services since he was a baby and no one had claimed him.

But he had been living with them for almost a year, and they were not planning on giving him away. They decided to adopt him.

The adoption process was always hard, a million papers to sign, a million interviews, a million days. But they had gone through it twice, they could do it once again.

Then his mind went to Felix. He had been living with them for a little over a month now. His father was arrested for abuse and illegal substance consumption; no other family of his would take him. And Chan knew his family was incomplete without Felix.

But Felix had been depressed. Chan never asked him directly, but he could see it. He was tired, he was a lot less talkative than usual. He just seemed sad, he avoided them as much as he could. Chan tried to ask his other kids, but none of them knew exactly what was wrong.

“What if he doesn’t like being with us, Woojin?” he asked his husband one night.

“Then we talk to him about it and try to fix what’s wrong. Don’t worry about it, honey,” he answered.

Chan decided that was probably for the best, so one day after Felix’s teacher left, he approached him.

“Hi, sunshine, what did you learn today?”

“I… We did reading exercises today,” Felix answered, his eyes were droopy and his voice almost like a whisper.

“Are you tired, Lix? Do you want to sleep?” The kid shook his head quickly. “I need you to tell me what’s wrong, Felix. You look down these days, is the therapist not helping?”

“It’s not that…”

“Then?”

“You’re sending me away, aren’t you?” Felix asked shakily.

“What?”

“You’re adopting Jeongin, right? And then you’re sending me away because I’m too much work.”

“Felix, that’s not true.”

“I’ve had nightmares,” Felix started to tear up, Chan guided him to sit on the couch, never letting go of his hand. “But they’re real things, like when I was living with my mom without a house. A-And I know I’m too much work, I need a therapist and a teacher and you buy me things, so you’re going to send me away and I’ll live outside again and it’s going to be cold and-“

Chan hugged Felix tightly, the fear in his voice broke Chan’s heart. They stayed like that for a few minutes.

“Felix, those things you said, they’re what parents are supposed to do. They’re not wrong,” Chan caressed Felix’s hair to calm him down. “We’ve been sending Changbin to therapy for years now, we love buying things for you and the others because we like you being happy. You’re not too much work, Lix. And you’re never going to be without a home again, I promise.”

“So you… want me here?”

“We… were actually planning on adopting you, too, but you seemed so sad, we didn’t know if you wanted us to.”

“I do!” Felix exclaimed. “You are nice to me and I like it when Woojin plays video games with us and when you let us help you cook and I like Jeongin because he’s small and cute and Jisung is funny and Changbin is so nice to me.”

Chan smiled wide. “And we like you, too. All of us. We love you, Felix.”

“I… love you, too… Dad.”

Chan’s heart stopped. His kids didn’t call him dad, not even after years of being together. It sounded sweet coming from Felix. Very hesitant, but sweet like honey. Chan loved him a lot.

They were having dinner, Chan had already told Woojin everything. So he turned to his kids.

“Okay! Woojin and I have three good news for you! Do you want the good one, the best one or the bestest?”

“The good one first!” Jeongin said, excited.

“Well, Woojin and I decided to take you guys plus your friends to an amusement park next weekend!” Cheers immediately erupted,  Jisung high-fived Felix across the table.

“Now, the best news,” Woojin continued,” is that Jeongin is officially adopted now.”

Jeongin smiled brightly and clapped, Jisung joined him.

“What’s the bestest news?” Changbin asked.

“We decided to also adopt Felix. We already began the process.” Chan said, he saw Felix looking startled and Changbin smiling and patting his head.

“Thank you,” Felix whispered.

“We’re all family now, and I hope we’re all happy together,” Woojin said, kissing Chan’s forehead.

After trials and tribulations, they were going to be a family forever. Finally, Chan had the life he had always wanted. He had an amazing husband, four beautiful kids, the job of his dreams and he was happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi, loves!  
> you might or might not have guessed... but this is kind of the last chapter for this storyline (we still have the amusement park episode hehe).   
> thanks for ready, again, sorry for the length!


	11. stay together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The last one...

Chan was going crazy. He knew right off the bat that taking 7 kids to an amusement park was mad, he just didn’t imagine it being this mad. They were overpowered. Chan was starting to regret Jinyoung’s offer to help.

Jeongin, Seungmin and Hyunjin had managed to get bubbles and were chasing each other with them, Changbin was unsuccessfully trying to steal Hyunjin’s bubbles. Minho and Jisung were currently in a shooting competition to get stuffed animals; Minho was surprisingly good at it, Jisung not so much. In the middle of all the chaos, Felix had managed to get himself covered in cotton candy.

That’d be a fun day.

The adults decided to go get headbands, the kids excitedly picked theirs, giving advice and modeling for each other. It was endearing to see Jeongin place a cat headband on Felix or the way Jisung shyly ran away from Hyunjin, who was trying to put a headband on him.

Suddenly, Chan felt a weight on his head. He turned around to see Woojin, hands in the air and he realized he now had a headband on him. Chan smiled, catching a glimpse of himself in one of the mirrors, then, he grabbed bear ears and put them on Woojin.

“This reminds me of our first date,” Woojin said, Chan laughed, embarrassed.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, you know,” Woojin started, putting his arms around Chan’s middle, “that one time I invited you to a date but you didn’t know it was a date, so you invited more people and I was awkwardly trying to make a move on you. When we rode that one roller coaster and you were so scared you held my hand and when we got off I felt brave and held it once again.”

“Shut up,” Chan said without any real bite. He hugged Woojin closer and then kissed him. “I just didn’t understand how you would want to go on a date with me.”

“You were the perfect guy, Chan. You still are,” Woojin kissed him once again, but this time a little voice was heard.

“Changbin, they are doing it again,” Chan turned to the voice and saw Jisung scrunching up his nose. A soft “ew” from Changbin was heard in the distance.

“One day, you will get yourself a partner and then you can talk,” Chan said, raising an eyebrow at him.

“Nope! I’m going to move to Japan with Hyunjin and Seungmin when we’re older and I’ll never get married, it sounds gross.”

Woojin laughed and Chan noticed the little penguin plush Jisung was holding in his arms. “What’s that, Ji?”

“Oh, Minho gave it to me because I didn’t win anything at the shooting game,” Jisung answered, petting the penguin. Chan smirked.

“Minho, huh?”

Immediately, Jisung got red and held the toy tighter, walking away quickly.

Chan turned to look at Woojin, who was still silently laughing.

“Those two are going to end up together,” Woojin said.

“If Jisung stops being so shy, I’m sure Minho already has everything planned out.”

“Minho is insistent, he can do it.”

Woojin kissed him once more and then they gathered the kids, all with their headbands on. They headed out, planning out on what rides they were going in. Seungmin and Jeongin started chanting “Viking” as Jisung yelled in fear.

“What is Viking?” Felix asked, he looked adorable with his cat ears and freckles and soft blue sweater.

“It’s the worst ride ever,” Jisung said, Hyunjin nodded enthusiastically.

“You guys are just babies,” Seungmin teased.

“I’ll go if Felix goes,” Changbin said.

“I still don’t know what Viking is,” Felix complained, “but fine, I’ll go.”

Changbin looked at Felix in disbelief. Minho sighed loudly.

“I guess I’ll go, since everyone is going…”

“Are you going, Ji?” Woojin asked. Jisung shook his head and pouted.

“Is it too scary?” Minho asked, Jisung nodded, still pouting. “It’s scary for me, too, because I’m afraid of heights, but I think it will be fun.”

“You’re afraid of heights?” Jisung asked, tilting his head, Minho confirmed. “Oh, then I guess I’ll go too.”

Jisung then held Minho’s hand firmly, as if he was going to protect him. Minho smiled and then turned to look at Chan, Chan winked at him and Minho giggled.

“Then I guess we’ll go, too, since no one is staying,” Woojin suggested, Chan laughed excitedly. He guessed it was alright for them to have fun, too.

As they were in line for their turn, Felix looked more and more scared, seeking Changbin’s hand for comfort. Jisung was still holding tightly to Minho, but Minho was busy playing rock, paper, scissors against Hyunjin, thought Chan didn’t exactly understand what for. Seungmin and Jeongin were just excitedly talking about the other rides.

As they got into the ride, Chan felt a newfound excitement, he felt like a child again, it was fun and he felt light, without worried.

“Don’t be scared, Changbin!” Jisung teased.

“I’m not!” Changbin answered.

Then the ride started and all he could hear was kids calling out his and Woojin’s name, yelling and a lot of laughing. Chan held onto Woojin’s hand, smiling and feeling giddy.

Their day ended by watching the parade after being dragged by Jeongin to countless rides.  In the parade, they danced and played around with the park’s characters.

It got darker and fireworks started filling the sky, it was beautiful. He saw the kids, all of them were staring at the fireworks in admiration, their little smiles making the whole scene much brighter.

Felix turned around as he felt Chan’s eyes on him then walked up to Chan and held his hand.

“Thank you, I had never been to a park,” the kid said, Chan smiled at his thick Australian accent, he hoped it would never disappear.

“Anything for you, sunshine,” Chan answered with a smile.

“You’re really amazing, you know?” Chan felt like tearing up at Felix’s words because the look in his eyes was the same as the one he had looking at the fireworks.

“You guys make me amazing.”

Felix turned his attention back to the fireworks and so did Chan.

As soon as the show was over, the kids started running around again, but they looked tired.

“Are you ready to go home?” Woojin asked them.

“No!” some of them complained, but Jeongin and Hyunjin’s tired expressions said the contrary.

“What about we go home and have a movie night?” Woojin suggested.  Immediately cheers erupted, Chan smiled at him.

“You’re getting better at this,” Chan told Woojin in a whisper.

“I know,” his husband answered with a wink.

In the end, there was no movie night, because as soon as they got home, Jeongin fell asleep, Seungmin and Felix following shortly after.

It didn’t take long into the first movie for Minho, Hyunjin and Jisung to fall asleep, too. But Changbin refused to sleep, despite his eyes getting closed every once in a while.

“You should sleep, baby,” Chan told him, they were the only ones left at the living room.

“I can’t, I haven’t been able for a while now,” Changbin sounded desperate, his little hand now in a fist.

“Oh, baby, I’m sorry I didn’t notice earlier. Is it because of Jisung in your room?”

“No! Actually, Jisung has been helping, it just takes a long time…”

“Do you want to try sleeping pills again?” Chan held Changbin’s hand, feeling it relax.

“…maybe.”

“It’s okay if you do, Bin. It doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you.”

“…okay.”

After a pill and some sweet words, Changbin fell asleep. Chan took him to his room, smiling at the sight of six other boys, all asleep against and over each other. He placed Changbin in the little space between Felix and Seungmin, Changbin immediately cuddled up to Felix.

Chan’s heart almost stopped when he felt hands around his hips.

“Relax,” Woojin said behind him.

“I thought you were asleep.”

“Not anymore.”

“I can see,” Chan fell onto Woojin as he stared at the kids. “God, they’re perfect.”

“They really are. I can’t wait for them to grow up and become the amazing people they’re destined to be.”

“I kinda just want them to stay little forever,” Chan laughed, but tears were threatening to fall.

“Let’s go to bed, love,” Woojin pulled him out of the room. As they closed the door, Chan felt his heart full.

Full of love for his kids, for his husband, for his life. He felt ready for everything to come as long as they were together.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading this story. It started being incredibly self-indulgent and ended up being something I could share and love with many of you. Thank you for all your kind comments, writing this was hard in the sense I did a lot of research about kids and all but in the end I fell in love with it.  
> Like I said, THIS IS NOT OVER.  
> Thank you all once again. I love you!!!!


	12. sky colored youth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> not a chapter

Hello, lovelies.

The sequel to this story is up now! Here's the link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17900309/chapters/42257954

The story is set around 5 years later when they're all in high-school, it is told from the kid's perspective and romance ensues!

Thank you all so much for following this story, I never expected it to be so important to have its own series oof.

Like always, feel free to befriend me @syub_yoon on twitter, my DMs are always open for requests or just a chat.

I love you all!

**Author's Note:**

> befriend me on twitter @moonlightsungie uwu


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